I thought I would make this thread since I haven't found it on here before. I recently began to experiment with Nighttime Photography (where you extend the shutter speed so more light gets in). These are some of my test shots I took tonight (January 3rd) of Ballpark Village and Downtown. I'm still trying to nail the color down and speed of the photos for the best results but I think they are interesting so far. They are somewhat shaky (since my Tripod is pretty crappy) but I'll work on that. My favorite is of the Metropolitan Building and One Cardinal Way crane.

I like how some stars pop out here. You may have to click and zoom in...

^It's a trick getting everything right, but it can be fun. I haven't tried light painting yet, but you can show movement in interesting ways: ghost people and light trails and the like.

Actually, even in daytime you can have fun with slow speed photography with enough neutral density filters, but . . . night sort of lends itself to that. (And since I'm lazy and don't have a good rig to add gels to my camera just yet night works better.)

Are you wanting to make this a general night thread or do you want to showcase your own stuff?

Odds are good you've seen most of these, but here's a few of my night shots.

I rather enjoy the way the last fellow in line turned and looked at me before getting on the trolley.

This one is no great shakes, but at least it's not widely circulated yet.

I'm constantly trying to get a decent picture of Grand at night. One of those subjects you just go back to over and over again. Because neon looks great at night. And yet, my favorite is still the flawed, but lovely rainy night shot that might just have been my first night shot in the area. Man . . . if I'd gotten out of the stinking car . . .

And this last one isn't quite "night" so much as early evening, but it was after sunset. And a quarter of a second isn't that slow in the grand scheme of things, but when your subject is a jet taking off it's more than sufficient to show a lot of motion. It's not great, but it was an experiment. And it is the sort of thing that's generally easier in lower light. (Lower being relative. I clearly needed more light here.)

A couple I took a while back. One digital, one medium format film. Down by the now removed warehouses on the Hill.

About a 30 second exposure.

symphonicpoet wrote:
Odds are good you've seen most of these, but here's a few of my night shots.

I like these 3 photos. BWCrow1s, that looks like a movie scene with the clouds, industrial buildings and train tracks. SymphonicPoet, the photos I selected look like 1. An ad for the Loop Trolley with the guy getting on and Grand looking like a bigger city street after the rain. Really cool. Thanks for sharing.

You have a lot more gribbly bits in your lens than I do. Many points on those star-flares. Great shots. I particularly like the shot of the audience abuse lights at Busch. Great concert pic. And the long exposure of the barge lashup is neat too. Makes the river look kind of ghostly.

You have a lot more gribbly bits in your lens than I do. Many points on those star-flares. Great shots. I particularly like the shot of the audience abuse lights at Busch. Great concert pic. And the long exposure of the barge lashup is neat too. Makes the river look kind of ghostly.

The Mayor wrote:
Not sure what a gribbly bit is lol, but thanks for your kind words!

Your lens would appear to have more leaves int he iris, for instance, which is supposed to be a sign of a good quality lens. And maybe your average better lens is also faster. Anyway, the more important thing is that you've used it well.

I'm been shooting with a DSLR for about 6 years now and I still consider myself a noob lol. As far as night shooting goes, you'll definitely need a tripod, especially if you have any longer lenses. My longest is a 100-400 and even with a tripod that can be difficult at night.

I never took any classes myself, I actually learned by asking other photographers questions when I got stuck, and most of all, YouTube. Just type in the type of effect you want to achieve and you can usually find a video with a photographer detailing appropriate settings and giving other good tips. That's actually how I learned how to do light trails and giving water that soft, misty look.

I went out and took these three right after watching some of those videos. You'll have to forgive me for posting a few KC pictures, after searching high and low I can't seem to find any from STL with these same effects. I also added my settings to give you an idea of what to kind of play around with. All were in manual mode.

Misty water effect.
One second exposure at f/5. ISO-160.

Light trails.
30 second exposure at f/14. ISO-100.

Blurred clouds:
30 second exposure at f/10. ISO-100.

I also keep this handy little chart on my phone. If I'm changing settings a lot I'll disorient myself and this helps keep me straight. Remember the "Sunny 16 Rule"